Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

At 40-something, straight-laced Cal Weaver is living the dream-good job, nice house, great kids and marriage to his high school sweetheart. But when Cal learns that his wife, Emily, has cheated on him and wants a divorce, his "perfect" life quickly unravels. Cal is taken on as wingman and protégé to handsome, thirty-something player Jacob Palmer. Jacob opens Cal's eyes to the many options before him: flirty women, manly drinks and a sense of style that can't be found at Supercuts or The Gap. Cal's son is crazy about his 17-year-old babysitter, who harbors a crush on Cal. And despite Cal's makeover and his many new conquests, the one thing that can't be made over is his heart, which seems to keep leading him back to where he began.

Crazy, Stupid, Love reminds us that soul mates are important in our lives.  However, the question presented in the movie is, "Do we deserve it?"  The movie follows a family whose members have grown apart from one another, the parents who met in middle school and ended up getting married, to their child who is in love with the babysitter.  The father figure, befriended by a womanizing man, played by Ryan Gosling, tells the father, played by Steve Carell, that he has lost his identity and that is why he is distant from his wife and about to lose her.  However, the director never tells us why Gosling's character is willing to help Carell's character.  As the Pied Piper, Gosling's character transforms Carell's character into that man again; however, in doing this, Gosling's character changes forever as well.

Emma Stone is wonderful in this movie as the love interest of Gosling's character.  She won't bend to the lines of the womanizer, and there is one scene where Goslings character becomes the hunted; and he is clearly uncomfortable with this as he is usually the hunter.  Through the views of the young and old, they are characters we are able to see that each deals with their life crisis's' differently.   It is obvious that Ryan Gosling really worked on his body for this part, as Emma Stone's character says, "You look like you have been photo shopped."  His character uses this to his advantage throughout the movie.  However, Stone's character is immune to it as she seeks something deeper.  Though this story line may not work in complex social dynamics of the real world, we can see that the lesson it tries to teach us is important.  This is a great date movie, but also a great couples' movie. 

The movie teaches us a life lesson -- it is never too late to recognize that we have wandered off the path, and it gives us the instructions on how to get back on.   As married people we find ourselves losing what initially made our partner fall in love with -- this movie shows us we can still get it back even though it has been a while.

This movie simply accomplishes what it sets out to do…show us a side of ourselves that we lose when we say those words, "I Do".